I see that people are apoplectic on Twitter about the Democrats “caving” on impeachment trial witnesses after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and a handful of other Republicans abruptly called their bluff and voted to allow them.
But people shouldn’t be upset. That was the right move for Democrats for two reasons. First, witnesses or no witnesses, this is a foreordained reality show, so let’s just get on with it and get it ended.
And second, to the extent that there is a hunger to get to the bottom of everything that happened on Jan. 6—and I hope that extent is considerable across the nation—there is a far better venue for doing so than an impeachment trial.
We’ll circle back to that better venue, but first, in a nutshell, here’s what happened in the Senate on Saturday. Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) issued a statement Friday night via CNN confirming a conversation she had with Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). McCarthy told her that President Donald Trump told him, mid-riot on Jan. 6, that he basically supported the rioters. She said she was willing to so testify.
That forced the House managers to seek a resolution allowing for witnesses. It passed, with five Republican votes. Then, right after it passed, everybody realized: Holy shit, what Pandora’s Box have we opened?
So they broke for an hour and decided on no witnesses. Having witnesses was a risky idea. You noticed that Graham abruptly changed his vote from nay to yea. One might presume that he’s sitting there texting with Donald Trump or someone in Trump’s circle, maybe because his lawyers have done such a laughable job. So what was that vote switch about?
Maybe it was just a bluff, to convince the House managers not to call witnesses. But it surely was also a warning to Democrats that Republicans and Trump’s counsel could, and would, turn the trial into a shitshow. I don’t doubt for one second that defense attorney Michael van der Veen, who’s auditioning for Fox News, would love to have questioned Nancy Pelosi. Trump adviser Jason Miller was flashing a witness list of 300 people. It would have been orgasmatron time in Fox land.
Yes, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) could have controlled all that. But I still say end this fast. Again, the outcome of this trial is foreordained. Trump is guilty and Trump will be acquitted, and witnesses wouldn’t have changed the outcome. We know this. Trump himself could testify and say he wanted Mike Pence dead, and they’d still acquit. They’d find an excuse, because they’re not looking at evidence. They’re looking at polls of Republican voters.
In addition to that, the Senate has other vitally important business to attend to, namely COVID-19 relief. The Senate and House have to pass that bill fast. Right now, polling seems to support this impeachment trial, and a majority supports convicting Trump. But the public’s patience will wear thin if this drags on.
All of which brings us to the superior venue through which the nation can get to the bottom of this. It’s the 9/11-style commission that Pelosi has promoted. That would be a commission of experts, with a large and top-drawer staff and subpoena power, that would get to the bottom of everything. It could and should take months and do hundreds of interviews and subpoena resistant witnesses and tell the whole story.
That, to me, is the right venue for understanding what happened on Jan. 6. You’ll remember if you’re of a certain age that the 9/11 commission was co-chaired by Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, who were two elder statesmen of their parties. So today, equivalents might be, oh, Tom Daschle and Trent Lott, something like that. They oversaw a comparatively civil impeachment trial of Bill Clinton in 1999.
That’s where Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) should be made to talk, under oath, about his phone chat with Trump at 2:20-ish p.m. on Jan. 6. That’s where everyone in Trump’s retinue can be subpoenaed to talk about what they knew and when they knew it, and then jailed if they duck their subpoenas and refuse to talk. It’s where even Trump himself can be made to talk (George W. Bush testified, but not under oath; an oath won’t matter with Trump since he will lie with impunity regardless). The Mikes, Lee and Pence, will have to talk to such a commission. We’ll get to the bottom of what Trump knew about Pence’s fate and when he knew it.
And we’ll discover the entire extent of the coordination. How many local Republican elected officials were involved? How many party officials, national and local? How many police officers were in on it? Was Rudy involved, or Flynn, or the Trump kids? These questions must be answered for the sakes of both closure and history. An impeachment trial won’t answer them.
So my vote is for ending this foreordained reality show that Van der Veen wants to turn into a circus and empanel the commission. Of course, that means they damn well better proceed with the commission. And go pass the COVID bill. Also, don’t forget that Trump is facing a pile of lawsuits—further incriminating information may emerge from those giving even more evidence of his wrongdoing. Civil courtrooms are another venue that are superior to a politically charged Senate chamber.
Had Beutler been made to testify, sure, that could have been dramatic.
Maybe it would have encouraged others who had similar conversations with McCarthy to come forward. And maybe, if so, all that could have shifted the debate, and public opinion. It could even have shifted a couple votes. But it most likely would never have shifted a dozen votes, which is the number that needs to shift for conviction. And that’s my bottom line. As long as we know how this is going to end, end it.
